The Department of Justice investigation into Democrat officials widened Friday as Special Attorney Ed Martin was spotted in Brooklyn reviewing New York Attorney General Letitia “Tish” James’ multi-family brownstone at the center of a federal mortgage fraud probe.

Martin, wearing a beige trench coat, inspected James’ Clinton Hill property just days after Attorney General Pam Bondi tapped him to lead simultaneous mortgage fraud investigations into both James and California Sen. Adam Schiff, according to The New York Post.

Grand juries in Virginia and Maryland are already weighing indictments over allegations that James and Schiff falsified property records to secure favorable loan terms.

At the heart of James’ case is her Brooklyn brownstone at 296 Lafayette Avenue, officially listed as a five-unit dwelling. Investigators say she falsely described the building as a four-unit property on mortgage applications and government filings — a misrepresentation that would have allowed her to qualify for more favorable loans through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both programs restrict financing to buildings with four or fewer units.

When Martin toured the building, he noted the doorbell setup: a main entrance with one bell and a side entrance with four labeled “1 Floor,” “2 Floor,” “3A,” and “3B.”

A neighborhood resident confronted the DOJ attorney and a colleague, demanding to know why they were there.

“Tell me why you’re here,” the woman said. “We know who lives here . . . You’re not here about the houses. You’re here because of who lives here. It’s my neighborhood. It’s my block. I have a right to know what you guys are doing.”

“I’m just happy to be on a block looking at houses . . . I’m just looking at houses, interesting houses. It’s an important house,” Martin replied.

The neighbor dismissed that explanation, saying: “It’s not. It’s just like every other tract house on this block that was built by developers.”

Martin responded politely: “They’re beautiful, beautiful neighborhood.”

The probe into James’ finances began in April, when Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte referred the case to the DOJ. Pulte alleged James misled lenders by claiming a Norfolk, Virginia, property she purchased in 2023 was her “principal residence” — while simultaneously treating her Brooklyn home as a secondary property.

The case also points to documents where James and her father allegedly signed as “husband and wife” on mortgage paperwork in order to qualify for financing.

“Bill Pulte and his FHFA team got this started with his criminal referral,” Martin noted last week. “And as Tish James and Adam Schiff always say: ‘Nobody is above the law.’”

Special attorneys like Martin are authorized to conduct criminal proceedings, including grand jury investigations, outside the local jurisdiction in politically sensitive cases.

Martin, who previously served as acting U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., underscored the gravity of the investigation: “Attorney General Bondi and President Trump have given me a very serious mission. I am committed to going where the facts take me. For months DOJ and the FBI have been working on these two cases, it is my job to stick the landing.”

Both James and Schiff deny wrongdoing.

Preet Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney now representing Schiff, blasted the probe as partisan: “The allegations against Senator Schiff are transparently false, stale, and long debunked. Now Ed Martin, the most brazenly partisan and politically compromised person possible for the task, has been picked to investigate a political adversary. The bias here is glaring. Any supposed investigation led by him would be the very definition of weaponization of the justice process.”

Still, with federal grand juries convening in both Virginia and Maryland, the legal jeopardy facing James and Schiff is mounting — and President Trump’s Justice Department appears determined to see it through.